Fighting Destiny

Getting Back to Normal

Bailey P.O.V

I don’t know why I just agreed to do this. I hadn’t been out of the house, let alone my room, for the last six months. My pack deserves so much better, yet they still adore me all the same. I had taken a shower after my conversation with Chase, getting ready to start my week of pretending. The Summit was too important, we couldn’t show weakness now. I don’t even remember the last time I put actual clothes on but it felt good. I braided my hair to the side, per my usual look, and slipped on my boots. I had to face the pack at some point. Chase had been amazing lately and I always questioned the Goddess on why he and I weren’t mates. It was something we always thought we were. The heartbreak that came with the fact we weren’t, still weighs on me even today, five years later.

Taking one last glace in the full length mirror, I actually smiled. I looked...normal. Like myself and that surprisingly felt damn good. I had heard Cam say they were starting extra training today through our mind link, so they would be starving by the time they got back to the house. I missed cooking, but the last six months took my energy, my passions, everything. I needed this week to go smoothly, without anyone expecting that by this time next week, they’d have a stronger Alpha at the helm.

I took a deep breath before heading down to the kitchen. It took me a minute to remember where everything was, who knew you could forget your own kitchen in six months. I pulled out the works, and I planned on doing this every day for the next week. My guys deserve it. I made pancakes, french toast (because Chase doesn’t like pancakes. He’s weird, I know.), bacon, eggs, potato bites, biscuits, gravy. This was the biggest breakfast I’d made in a very very long time and it felt so good.

I could hear the guys coming up the back porch and smiled. Their faces were going to be priceless. I had just finished putting the last bit of plates on the table when the sliding doors opened, revealing four very surprised men, mouths opened, eyes wide. They stood like that for several minutes, staring at me like I had three heads. “If you stand there any longer, the food is going to be cold and nasty and all my hard work would be going in the trash.” I raised a brow to them and they didn’t even hesitate, they all headed to the table, bumping into each other. Chase stopped at me, while the others took a seat.

His eyes were burning right through me and I couldn’t even look up at him. Before I could react, he engulfed me into hug. “Mo bellicosity Alpha, hai reso felici i nostri cuori e il nostro stomaco.” He said loudly in his beautiful Italian tongue. Not that I under stood all of it, just the important parts. Beautiful, hearts, happy. Those were the only words that mattered to me. I gave him a tight hug back before pulling away. “You might want to go eat before those three inhale everything.” I said, kissing his cheek softly before he went to sit down.

This felt so normal. This felt right. Maybe they hadn’t taken everything from me after all.

Chase P.O.V.

I was so surprised by the breakfast, I didn’t even know what to say to her. This was incredible acting for sure. I’d have to give her an Oscar for this performance. I made sure my head was down before linking the guys, she didn’t need to know what we were talking about but our eyes were going to give us away.

‘No one make a big deal out of this. Understood. She needs to be comfortable doing this, even if it’s just for show’ I warned and they all agreed without a word. She meant as much to them as she did to me. We’d all been close friends since we were young. Even thought Matt and Ty didn’t have high ranking parents, they were still our friends. Bailey made it a point when becoming Alpha to make them high ranking, even if they didn’t have fancy titles.

Taking a bite of the french toast, I groaned, loud enough for everyone to look at me, and Bailey to bust out laughing. “What, I haven’t had her french toast in ages and it’s f*****g amazing.” I defended myself to the smiling faces. Not that I had to, I could tell they all were enjoying their food just as much. We’d missed her cooking. Sure the omegas weren’t bad at cooking, but Bails was the best.

There was a buzzing that interrupted my thoughts and I looked down at my phone that I forgot I set on the table. That was interesting, why were they calling me? We still had four days until the Summit. I took a drink of water before answering.

“Hello, Beta Chase Turner speaking.” I couldn’t even imagine changing my title. The voice on the other line was strict, and calm, and I didn’t like meaning behind his call.

“Of course she’s going to be there. Why is there doubt? Right, I understand, but she’s still the Alpha of this pack, so no. “I was arguing with a sexist, great. “ How am I supposed to know where her mate is? Don’t you think she would already have one if she knew? “ This conversation was getting annoying. “ Sir, she’ll be at the Summit. If there’s not anything else, you have a nice day.” I gave him a chance to reply before hanging up on him and putting my phone down on the table. At this point, Bailey was standing next to me. I knew she heard everything. Wolf hearing could be a curse sometimes.

“Don’t let him get to you Chase. We have to understand their position. “ She said sitting down in the empty chair to my right. How was she so calm about this? The mate conversation usually had her in a fit. “B, he’ll be there. I can feel it.” I said grabbing her hands in mine as she gave me a weak smile. The five of us that sat at this table, we were all mate-less. Which if you ask me, the Goddess is playing some sick joke. It was rare that you went past your 20’s without finding your mate, yet here we all were between 23-27 and none of us had mates. Which meant they weren’t in our pack, or our town, as our mates could be human as well.

“If he’s not, couldn’t we ask the elders about a mate-less. union. Like, for instance, you and B getting married?” Matt asked before shoveling food into his mouth. He had a good point, but the elders were so old fashion they wouldn’t go for it. There was no way for us to mark each other, and for werewolves, that was a big deal.

I shook my head and sighed. “Even if they did agree to it, there’s no way for us to make it final.” I started, watching my alpha closely. “We can’t-” I was cut off by her finishing my sentence. “Mark each other.” She looked away. It was silent for too long, we all knew what everyone was thinking. This brought back so many horrible memories for her.

“We’ll figure it out Bellissima.” Ty said with the most genuine smile I’ve seen from him in a while, making Bailey blush and smile back. Ty had that effect on the ladies, mated or not. He was just too sweet for his own damn good.

Bailey P.O.V

The conversation that Chase had with the council members had me uneasy, even after the reassurance from the guys. They seemed damned sure I was going to find my mate at the Summit. Which is the only reason I agreed to attend. Most Alpha’s find their mates within a year or two of becoming Alpha. That was probably why the council was in such a hurry for her to either find her mate or renounce her title and name a new one. Which she already decided to be Chase. And if they could bring up the fact of a mate-less. union, like Matt suggested, maybe things could work out.

When Ty spoke and gave me his beautiful genuine smile, I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks. Damn him! He was always making me blush like no tomorrow.

“Chase, when you’re done, meet me in the office to talk about the Summit.” I didn’t want to be blind sided by anything I’d missed in the last six months. He gave me a nod as he shoveled more food into his mouth. I couldn’t help the small giggle that came from my lips. These boys were hopeless. I excused myself from them and went to my office. Well it was more like our office, Chase probably used it more that I did, especially lately.

I sat down in the chair and looked around. Six months is longer than you think to be away from something, I was totally feeling that in this office. Piles of paperwork cluttered the desk, and the extra table, and the coffee table. Chase was never a clean, organized person, but this was just ridiculous. I cursed under my breath and started to tackle the pile of paperwork on the main desk. It was hard to sit there and talk about things with three foot paper piles everywhere.

**

I wasn’t exactly sure how long I’d been in the office. Chase was taking a little longer than I thought to come up to the office. Maybe he got sidetracked with something to do with the pack. I’ve turned off my link to the pack, so unless someone really needs me, I have no idea what’s going on. Even when Chase would link me, it would take him several tries. Once the wall is up, sometimes it’s even harder to bring it down.

Maybe with time I’ll be able to get it back, once Chase takes over as Alpha. I was still dead set on that. My guys have more faith in me finding him at the Summit than I do. We’ve all gone this long without our mates, why should this Summit be any different than last years? Highly unlikely that anyone attending the Summit is new.

I had just got done sorting through the last stack on the desk when there was a knock, and the door started opening. Chase was the only one that never waited for permission to enter the office. “Good gracious. It took you long enough, Chase!” I snapped at him as he closed the door behind him.

“Uh, what did you do to the desk?” He asked raising a brow, totally ignoring what I had just said.

“I organized the paperwork so we could actually use the desk.” I rolled my eyes at him as I sat down. I pulled out a notepad and a pen as Chase sat in the seat across from me. “I need to know everything important that’s happened in the last six months. Anything that could be brought up at the Summit.” I said, sliding the paper and pen towards him.

“You’ve missed quite a lot, B. “He said grabbing the items from the desk, hesitating.

“How much?” I asked, not really knowing if I wanted to know the answer.

He sighed and I knew things weren’t good. “Well, short version. Rouge attacks have been up everywhere. Black Lake has a new alpha, so does Moonshire. Both of their alphas got caught up in revenge and perished, forcing their sons to become Alphas too young. Bloodlust, had a new alpha also, but only because the old one was getting tired of the job and appointed his oldest as Alpha about three weeks ago. “ I shuttered at the last pack name. I’d never really been a fan of Bloodlust, even the name sounded creepy. I looked over at Chase, who was starting right at me and I sighed.

“I’m fine, Chase. I’m putting on my acting shoes, remember. “I gave him a small smile. I couldn’t fool him though, he knows me too well.

“Bailey, I’m really worried about you. Not just because you’re deciding to act this week, but because it’s been six months an you haven’t said a word about what happened. You refuse to talk to anyone, including me. How are we supposed to help you if you wont let us in?” I could see his fists balling up in anger, his eyes were filled with so many emotions. Hurt and anger being the top ones.

“Chase,” I started as I looked away from him. He was so important to me, but this was something I couldn’t share with him. Not yet anyway. Before I knew I was being twirled around in the chair and lifted up by Chase. I instinctively wrapped my legs around his waist and my arms were around his neck.

He buried his head into the crook of my neck. “B, I love you. I’m trying to be there for you and help you through this. I hate seeing you all tore up about it.” His muffled voice sounded defeated and I pulled him in closer to me.

“I know and I love you. I don’t know what I would do without you. “I sighed softly as he pulled back to look at my face. He was the only one that could even come this close, even hold me like this. After everything that happened, even my most trusted, couldn’t be trusted. My brain, my heart, just wouldn’t allow it.

“Just don’t keep things bottled up for much longer. I don’t think you’ll be able to handle it. “He spoke softly before putting me back down in the chair. He was hurting, I could see it in his eyes. But I couldn’t stop it. Not this time. Not yet.

I watched him sit back down in the chair and start scribbling things down. “Oh, I can’t believe I forgot this!” He said snapping his head up to look at me. I turned the chair and raised a brow slightly.

“One of the territories was split into two. One side kept the same Alpha and the other elected a new one. Something to do with them disagreeing on how the pack should be treated. “He wrote that down before forgetting.

“So there’s going to be four new Alpha’s at the Summit?” I asked, holding my breath slightly. This could be bad, or it could be good.

Chase nodded. “Along with the new high levels. They all chose new high ranking members. “I let my breath out, causing Chase to look over at me with a slightly confused face. I simply ignored it, and looked at the map on the wall.

“Is it current?” I asked pointing to the map before I got up. Chase nodded and wrote a few more things down before joining me.

“We just got this in at the end of last week. It shows the split pack, and the new alpha names. “He pointed to them all and I nodded. I looked closely at our territory gave a slight smile. It still had my name over it, thankfully. The last thing I needed was the other Alpha’s questioning things before the Summit. After looking over the map I realized something. I was the only female Alpha.

“Chase, is the reason the council is so adamant about me finding my mate because I’m the only female Alpha in the US?” I asked, looking over at him. He looked uncomfortable, like he knew something. Sometimes I think he forgets that I know him all too well. “Spill it. Now.” I didn’t want to use my Alpha tone, but I was real close.

“The council is under pressure from the other packs. They don’t think a female should be alpha. “He tried to look away from me, but was having a hard time.

“Who?” I asked through my teeth as I stared at the map.

“Who what, Bailey?” I could hear the slight fear in his voice.

 “Who is pressuring them? Who thinks we’re weak because I’m the Alpha?” I looked at him, my eyes going completely black. I needed answers, and I needed them now.